Marauding Years
by ArrowsForPens
Summary: Key moments in the Marauder's time at school, examining how the various personalities got them where they did. Series of one-shots, canon pairings, Spoilers books 4-7.


Author's Note: Clearly, the main characters here are not mine. Nor is any dialogue or name you recognize. I've very carefully made up quite a few, however, and they are mine.

Canon information comes from the books and the Harry Potter Lexicon, and full moon dates are according to the US Naval Observatory.

EDIT: I realized, in writing the next chapter, that I left out a character in the Gryffindor boys' dorm. Because there are always five kids, not four…. Rewrites to chapter 2, and then that will be up soon too.

* * *

"…And we'll write to you, dear, as often as you like," a witch sniffed. While not quite elderly, she and her husband were definitely getting on in years.

"_Mum_," the boy groaned. He was thin, but not to the point of looking unhealthy. In fact, he looked prodigiously well cared for—combed hair, new shoes. Even his Muggle clothes were pressed and matched.

The wizard ran his hand through his son's hair, staring into his hazel eyes. "You behave yourself, James, and work hard at your studies."

"Yeah, alright, can I go now? The train's leaving soon…"

"Of course, of course," the witch said, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief. "Oh! Don't forget your owl, James, here you are then."

"I've got her," the father volunteered—the boy, though tall for his age, looked completely outsized by both the owl's cage and his large trunk. His father helped him heft it onto the train and store it in a compartment, then they both got back on the platform for the last farewells.

"What if I'm not in Gryffindor?" whispered James to his father.

"It'll be just fine, James. Your mother and I don't mind at all which house you're in."

"I was in Ravenclaw, myself. Fine house." Mrs. Potter with pride.

"And nothing bad ever came of Hufflepuff, either," Mr. Potter said.

"Hufflepuff are a load of duffers," James mumbled.

"They are not. Have a good term, dear," his mother said, giving her son a kiss.

"Aagh. _Mum!_"

James entered the compartment again. More trunks had been added to the overhead while he had been on the platform, and except for a teary-eyed girl in the corner it was empty. He tried to ignore the girl and sat down next to Gwenog.

"We're finally going," he whispered to the owl, hand on the cage.

The sound of the compartment door opening pulled James out of his thoughts. He whipped around to see a boy his age, also with dark hair, entering the compartment.

"Hello," the boy said with a handsome smile. "I'm Sirius Black."  
"James Potter."

"That's a nice owl," Sirius said, gesturing as he took the seat opposite James.

"Thanks," James said, slightly surprised. "Her name's Gwenog."

"Like on the Chocolate Frog cards? Have you got her?"

"Er—yeah, just here." James dug in his pockets and came out with a thick wad of cards.

"Excellent, I've got two of Agrippa, d'you want to trade?"

"Agrippa? Absolutely!"

The compartment door opened and a nervous-looking boy poked his head in.

"Uh, excuse me, um, can I sit in here?"

James gestured theatrically to the empty space on his seat, getting a chuckle from Sirius. The boy sat down gratefully and looked at Gwenog in astonishment.

"Is that—is that your _owl_?"

"Uh, yeah. Her name's Gwenog."

"I saw on the letter that students could bring one but I never really thought that—_wow_."

The door opened again and another boy poked his head in. "That seat open?"

Sirius waved casually to the space on his seat.

"Thanks," said the boy. "My name's Anthony."

"Joseph."

"James, and this is Sirius."

"Um, what about…" said Anthony with a small gesture toward the teary girl next to James. She had dark red hair but it covered a lot of her face and she seemed to take up an impossibly small amount of space.

James gave a helpless shrug. _Don't know, can't help._ Anthony nodded, shrugging her off.

"Exploding Snap?" asked Sirius.

"Yeah!" said Anthony.

"Sure," said James.

"Um, I'll just watch the first one," said Joseph.

"Are you Muggle-born?" asked James.

Joseph smiled embarrassedly. "Is it that easy to tell?"

"Well, kind of. But don't worry about it. One of my dad's best friends at school was Muggle-born, and he did fine."

Joseph looked very relieved to hear this and settled down to watch the game in unconcerned astonishment. After three and a half rounds, James was just starting to think that there must be something _really_ upsetting the girl in the corner for her still to be crying and not speaking. He was on the verge of asking her name, since her crying really was starting to make him uncomfortable, when the compartment door opened again and a sallow-looking boy entered and sat across from her. Distracted, James lost that round just when he'd gotten warmed up. He concentrated on the game, slightly miffed.

Most of the conversation between the red-haired girl and the greasy boy was quiet enough that James couldn't hear them, but just as they had finished playing her voice cut across the compartment with a single word.

"Slytherin?" she asked, sounding puzzled.

"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" James directed the last to Sirius.

Something flashed in Sirius's eyes, too quickly for James to tell what it was, and he did not smile. "All my family have been in Slytherin."

"Blimey, and I thought you seemed all right!" James said in dismay.

Now Sirius grinned. "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"

The attention of the other four was totally on them, James realized. In his element now, he raised his arm theatrically as if hefting a great sword. "'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!'" he quoted with a grin. "Like my dad."

The greasy boy gave a disparaging snort. James turned to him in deepest suspicion.

"Got a problem with that?"

"No," the greasy, washed-out louse sneered. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy--"

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" Sirius interjected quickly.

As James roared with laughter and Sirius sat back again, looking rather pleased with himself, the red-haired girl flushed and stood up.

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment."

"Ooooooo…"

James and Sirius had a quick go at imitating her haughty tone and James made a valiant attempt at tripping Severus as they left.

"See ya, Snivellus!" Sirius called as the door slammed shut.

James laughed again. "That was excellent. How d'you come up with them?"

Sirius shrugged, and somehow lent the motion a casual elegance that made every boy in the compartment admire him just a little bit more.

"Dunno," he said with a grin. "He was a right prat, though, wasn't he? 'If you'd rather be brawny than brainy'…"

"Yeah, what does he think people go to Ravenclaw for?"

This earned another laugh all around the compartment, even from Joseph, who was doing his best to catch on quickly.

The sun was nearly setting when a voice sounded throughout the train.

"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train," said the voice.

James felt the beginnings of nervousness, but it died just as suddenly.

"Finally," said Sirius. "I'm ready to eat, aren't you?"

"Yeah," said James heartily. He collected the Exploding Snap set and his loose Chocolate Frog cards and stuffed his pockets. Sirius had the compartment door open before the train had even stopped and they joined the throng of students outside.

"Firs' years! Firs' years, over here! Firs' years, follow me!" yelled a booming voice on the platform.  
"Blimey, he's big, isn't he?" James blurted.

"He must be the Gamekeeper. My mum, uh, thinks he must be part giant," Sirius answered.

"Whoah."

"Firs' years, this way, please!"

They followed the Gamekeeper down a steep path to the shore of a great lake.

"There," the Gamekeeper said proudly, "is Hogwarts. Now then, no more'n four to a boat!"

The castle was spectacular. It rose up impossibly high by Muggle standards, all steep spires silhouetted sharply against the rosy sky. Firelight from the windows reflected on the gently lapping surface of the lake.

"Wow."

"Black, Sirius!"

The boy from the train compartment walked forward and sat on the stool. The hat had barely touched his head before screaming "GRYFFINDOR!" to the cheers of one side of the room and the confusion of the other. Sirius gave James a small thumbs-up as he crossed the hall with a confident saunter, skillfully ignoring, or reveling in, whispers of "She did say 'Black,' didn't she?" "But they're all Slytherins!"

The next student, "Cadwell, Ernest," looked all the more nervous after Sirius's easy confidence. He scampered to the hat and was sent to Ravenclaw.

James gave a small grunt of annoyance as the haughty girl from the train, "Evans, Lily," went to Gryffindor. Sirius scooted a bit up the bench for her, but she was doing her best to pretend he didn't exist.

James wasn't about to change his intention of being in Gryffindor himself even if she was there, so he watched for other students being sorted into his house. "Lupin, Remus" was sorted into Gryffindor quite quickly while "Macdonald, Mary" and "Fitzpatrick, Kevin" took some consideration. His Exploding Snap opponent from the train, "Gatti, Anthony," went to Ravenclaw. "Pettigrew, Peter" took almost a full three minutes before going to Gryffindor, and finally it was James's turn.

"Potter, James!"

He tried to achieve the same casual saunter that Sirius had during his walk, and was fairly sure that he was at least close.

"_Well, you've got quite a head on your shoulders, don't you? Wouldn't do bad in Ravenclaw, but you've got a good streak of chivalry more nerve than I've seen in a while so it had better be _GRYFFINDOR!"

The last word echoed around the Hall and James listened to it with satisfaction. Not caring that he was grinning like an idiot, James walked toward the welcoming cheers of his fellow Gryffindors and took a seat next to Sirius.

"Well done, mate!" Sirius said, clapping him on the shoulder as he sat down.

"I always knew I'd be in Gryffindor," James said, still smiling. "Just like my dad and my grandfather. What about you, though?"

"What about me?"

"You said all your family have been in Slytherin, and now you _have _broken the tradition…"

"I might just get a Howler," Sirius said with a wicked grin. "But if I'm very, very lucky, they'll chuck me out of the house."

"That bad?" asked James, grinning.

Sirius's smile became slightly unnerving way and did not answer. They watched the rest of the Sorting, making small comments.

"Snape, Severus" went to Slytherin as quickly as Sirius had gone to Gryffindor.

"Serves him right!" Sirius said loudly with a hearty thump on the table.

"But you know why," James said seriously. "Anyone can tell there's no other place for a git like him and the Hat didn't want to get near that hair…"

Sirius laughed loudly and James realized they had the attention of most of the people sitting near them.

"We saw him on the train, and his hair is so greasy it looks like it hasn't been washed in weeks—"

"Same thing for his face—"

"And he isn't too smart, either—"

"Why don't you just leave him alone!"

James and Sirius turned toward the voice to see that it was Lily Evans, who was sitting next to Sirius but trying not to.

"He's just a greasy git, why not have some fun?" asked Sirius in the most reasonable of tones.

"He's never done anything to you!" she cried in outrage.

"Come on, why bother standing up for someone like him?" James asked.

Lost for words, she gave him a look of purest loathing and moved her plate down the table. The third-year to her right took pity on her and sidled down a bit.

"What's up with her?" James asked in some consternation. After a bit of whispering, the third-year sent him a displeased look and then both girls fervently ignored him. It was not a sensation he liked.

But Sirius didn't answer; a very old wizard had gotten up from the staff table and was addressing the students.

"Good evening, and welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I am Professor Dumbledore. I am sure you are all hungry, so tuck in!"

Food appeared all up and down the long tables, and for a while they were all too busy eating to talk much. James was finishing off his treacle tart (which was really very good) when Professor Dumbledore stood again.

"Now, I have some start of term announcements to make before I can let you all off to bed. The Forbidden Forest is off-limits to all students, which is, perhaps, the reason for its name. In addition, we have procured for the grounds a very fine but rather temperamental Whomping Willow. I would suggest that any student who is fond of their limbs in their current arrangement keep a safe distance from it."

"Is he being serious?" someone said in a faint voice that carried nonetheless.

Dumbledore did not seem to notice. "Well, I am sure you are all quite sleepy and want to be fresh for your lessons tomorrow. Off you trot!"

James overheard some upperclassmen whispering slightly down the table.

"A Whomping Willow? Why on earth…?"

"It's not like the Forest needs to be _more_ dangerous…"

"First years! First year Gryffindors, please follow me!"

James and Sirius fell in with the other first years and followed the prefect out of the Great Hall. James marveled at the castle as they walked, Sirius seemed almost to be studying it.

Finally the prefect brought them to a large portrait of a fat lady in a pink dress.

"Password?" she demanded imperiously.

The prefect gave it to her ("Flibbertigibbert") and warned them not to forget.

Her portrait swung forward revealing a circular hole in the wall through which they climbed. The Gryffindor common room was also circular, all in reds and golds. It had a large fireplace and lots of comfy-looking squashy armchairs. James instantly felt at home.

"Excellent," Sirius whispered, beaming. "My Uncle Alphard told me all about the Slytherin common room. This wins hands down."

And suddenly James was grinning just as broadly.

The Prefect directed them up a spiral staircase to a door with a plaque reading "First Years." Inside the circular room were five canopied beds and three boys from the Sorting.

"Hi," said only boy who was standing. "I'm Kevin Fitzpatrick."

"Remus Lupin," said one of the two sitting on a bed.

Everything about Kevin was vibrant, from the shade of his red hair to his excited expression, while Remus had sandy hair and looked exhausted. Their other yearmate was nervous-looking, and whipped himself into bed as quickly as possible. James suppressed a laugh.

"I'm Sirius Black."

"James Potter."

"Nice to meet you," said Remus politely.

James nodded acknowledgment. Sirius looked at Remus rather curiously.  
"Had a long day?"

Finally Remus smiled, but still he looked tired.

"You have no idea," Kevin said sagely.

"My mum's a bit dyslexic," Remus explained, "So when we got to King's Cross…"

And that was how it all started. Maybe we should have suspected what was coming, should have been able to read the signs, but it all seemed normal enough at the time. Merlin's beard, we thought it needed livening up.


End file.
